simplifying enterprise desktop deployment and management … · 2011-03-16 · for desktop...
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Centralized desktop delivery: Dell and VMware reference architecture
Dell and VMware have created the Virtual Remote Desktop reference
configuration based on Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers, Dell EqualLogic™
PS Series storage arrays, Dell PowerConnect™ network switches,
and VMware® View™ client virtualization software. This flexible,
highly scalable building-block configuration was jointly developed,
tested, and validated by Dell and VMware engineers as a baseline for
sizing virtual desktop deployments to meet specific organizational
goals—helping to reduce cost and complexity through centralized
control and delivery of computing assets.
Simplifying enterprise desktop deployment and management using Dell EqualLogic storage and VMware View: A highly scalable, end-to-end client virtualization framework
As enterprise computing environments
become increasingly distributed
and mobile, administrators are
compelled to find cost-effective
ways to gain control over an expanding variety
of client desktops, laptops, and handheld units.
Exploring alternatives to simplify management of
the enterprise client environment is high on the
agenda for many reasons, including escalating
maintenance and support expenses, frequent
security patches, and software upgrades, as
well as an explosion of remote and mobile user
devices. Additionally, heightened concerns
surrounding data security and confidentiality—
often related to specific regulations and
standards—have made centralization imperative
for organizations in many industries. With IT
operations widely deploying server virtualization
and benefiting from IT consolidation, a logical
next step is to extend the capital expenditure
(capex) and operating expense (opex) savings of
virtualization to the desktop.
In keeping with its comprehensive portfolio
of customer-focused technologies designed
to boost data center efficiency and reduce
operating costs, Dell offers a flexible Virtual
Remote Desktop (VRD) solution that addresses
today’s complex computing challenges. The Dell
VRD approach—based on VMware View client
virtualization infrastructure software deployed
across Dell EqualLogic virtualized Internet SCSI
(iSCSI) storage, Dell PowerConnect network
switches, Dell PowerEdge servers, and Dell
OptiPlex™ thin clients, together with the Teradici®
PC-over-IP® (PCoIP®) protocol and graphics
acceleration—enables IT administrators to
centralize the management, data protection, and
security of client assets.
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The Dell VRD solution also utilizes VMware
View Composer image management and storage
optimization software to rapidly and easily
configure and deploy large numbers of virtual
desktops, together with VMware linked clone
technology, to maximize performance while
minimizing the storage needs of the virtual desktop
deployment. Together, VMware software and Dell
virtualization-optimized servers and storage provide
an efficient platform for desktop virtualization.
To help facilitate deployment of virtualized
desktops, Dell and VMware have created an end-to-
end framework that addresses a broad range of client
needs. The framework leverages a comprehensive
Dell portfolio of server, storage, network switch, client
device, support, and professional service offerings
combined with cutting-edge VMware virtualization
technology designed to optimize efficiency and
simplify management.
This document describes the results of
collaboration by Dell and VMware engineers to
create a flexible, highly scalable architecture for
virtual desktop deployments using VMware View,
PowerEdge servers, PowerConnect network
switches, and EqualLogic storage arrays. The
configurations presented in this document use a
building-block approach for sizing VMware View
virtual desktop environments, thereby helping to
simplify the purchase, deployment, and scalability
of client virtualization solutions for any size IT
environment.
Collaborating to provide a comprehensive
desktop solution
The long-standing Dell and VMware strategic
partnership is designed to deliver customer-
focused solutions that help drive efficiencies from
desktop to data center and enable organizations
of all sizes to reduce costs while planning for
growth. The partnership includes tight integration
of engineering, professional services, and sales,
resulting in seamlessly designed, integrated, and
pre-tested solutions. The partnership also has resulted
in the co-development of reference architectures—
validated configurations—designed to accelerate
deployment time and provide end-to-end solutions
for organizations looking to benefit fully from the
advantages of virtualization technology.
As an extension of this partnership, Dell now
offers VMware View as an option for Dell VRD
technology that can be easily delivered by the Dell
services organization. VMware View 4 provides a wide
range of capabilities, including:
• Simplifying and automating desktop management:
VMware View enables administrators to manage all
desktops centrally and provision desktops instantly
to users, departments, or offices. Administrators
can create instant clones from a standard image
and dynamic pools of desktops.
• Reducing costs: VMware View helps reduce the
overall cost of desktop computing by centralizing
management, administration, and resources; and
by removing IT infrastructure from remote offices.
• Enhancing security: Because all data is maintained
within the corporate firewall, VMware View helps
minimize risk and data loss. Built-in Secure Sockets
Layer (SSL) encryption provides secure tunneling
to virtual desktops from unmanaged devices or
untrusted networks.
• Increasing business agility and user flexibility:
VMware View accommodates changing business
needs, such as adding new desktop users or
groups of users, while providing a consistent
experience to every user from any network point.
• Providing business continuity and disaster
recovery: Built on the cutting-edge VMware
vSphere™ virtualization platform and cloud OS,
VMware View allows administrators to easily extend
features such as high availability and fault tolerance
to desktops without the need to add clustering
technologies. Desktop backup and recovery can be
automated as a business process in the data center.
Additionally, Dell EqualLogic storage integration
with VMware vStorage for Array Integration (VAAI)
enables virtual remote desktops to be highly efficient.
For example, EqualLogic firmware version 5.0 is
natively integrated with VMware vStorage application
programming interfaces (APIs), enabling exceptional
storage performance and scalability as well as
intelligent data tiering for multitier workloads such as
virtual remote desktops running in VMware vSphere
virtualization environments. The direct integration
of EqualLogic storage and VMware virtualization
enables organizations to achieve a cost breakthrough
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Centralized desktop delivery: Dell and VMware reference architecture
for desktop virtualization by optimizing data
management with linked clones and storage area
network (SAN)–based thin-clone technology.
Dell VRD offerings are available through either
purchase or lease options. Organizations can
purchase a full VMware desktop virtualization solution
from Dell—including servers, storage, networking,
client devices, professional services, and support.
Alternatively, with Dell’s acquisition of Perot Systems,
organizations can lease desktop virtualization services
through the Dell Services – Managed Virtual Client
offering with virtual desktops hosted by Dell and
offered as a service.
Simplifying enterprise desktop deployment
with a building-block approach
Together, Dell and VMware offer an end-to-
end virtual computing framework that enables
organizations to standardize on a common
platform and a tested architecture. The Dell VRD
solution includes OS, application, personalization,
and hosted virtual desktop services offerings,
providing a cost-effective, automated, and secure
solution for managing client platforms. With Dell
VRD, organizations can utilize existing VMware
investments while extending powerful business
continuity, disaster recovery, and cloud delivery
features to the desktop infrastructure.
Dell has designed a modular server and storage
architecture and tested it for a typical task worker
workload profile according to both VMware and Dell
best practices. Organizations can use this building-
block configuration as a reference for sizing a
custom virtual desktop deployment based on their
own requirements. The building-block approach
helps reduce the time, effort, and complexity of
initial sizing exercises, and allows IT staff to focus
on deployment using a tested server and storage
configuration as the baseline.
Benefits of the Dell and VMware approach to
virtualized desktop architectures include:
• Flexibility: Dell VRD deployments can be tailored—
and scaled up or down—to specific business and
organizational requirements.
• Simplicity: Dell VRD provides comprehensive
specifications for a simple modular architecture
including server, storage, and network
components; easy-to-deploy virtualized Dell
EqualLogic storage is tightly integrated with
VMware infrastructure with intelligent, automated
management.
• Efficiency: Dell VRD offers a method to quantify
the resources required to serve a group of users
who have been profiled in terms of application
workloads.
Combining Dell Flexible Computing Solutions
and VMware View
The Dell Flexible Computing Solutions suite of
products and services is designed to centralize
the processing and storage resources of a
distributed computing environment. Built on a
flexible computing architecture foundation, Dell
Flexible Computing Solutions help increase control,
manageability, and security while helping reduce total
cost of ownership and enhance desktop continuity.
Dell ProManage™ and Dell IT Consulting Services help
organizations to assess their needs, take advantage of
hardware technologies, and integrate management
tools into their environments.
Additionally, a range of tools facilitate ongoing
management. For example, Dell Management
Console – Clients and the Dell Distributed Device
Manager streamline client management and
are designed to be compatible with current and
future client products. Also, Dell EqualLogic SAN
HeadQuarters (SAN HQ) enables a consolidated
view of EqualLogic PS Series SAN usage, networking,
and event statistics—both on a real-time and a trend
basis—to support planning, troubleshooting, and
problem avoidance.
VMware View is a key component of the Dell
Flexible Computing architecture. In particular, Dell
VRD leverages VMware View in a versatile way that is
designed to scale from dozens to thousands of virtual
desktops. VMware View enables highly simplified
design, deployment, management, and support of
Dell Flexible Computing solutions through a single
point of contact.
Given today’s intense focus on client mobility,
VMware and Dell are further enhancing flexibility
through capabilities such as the PCoIP protocol.
The PCoIP technology built into VMware View 4 is
designed to dynamically detect and adapt to end-user
network connections, enabling IT organizations to
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provide a high-quality desktop experience regardless
of user location.
The PCoIP display protocol and graphics
acceleration helps deliver virtual desktops
efficiently over the network by optimizing low-
bandwidth, high-latency connections. PCoIP
supports a variety of software and hardware
configurations. For example, users can play rich
media content, choose from a range of client
configurations, and seamlessly access locally
attached peripheral devices such as printers,
scanners, and mass storage. VMware View with
PCoIP offers many advantages, including:
• Consistent, high-performance end-user desktop
experience over a local area network (LAN) or wide
area network (WAN)
• Multimedia redirect, USB redirect, and multi-
monitor configuration support for an exceptional
desktop experience
• Desktop access from a wide array of devices,
allowing increased availability in virtualized
environments
• Use of progressive build technology to display
images
• Support for Microsoft® ClearType™ fonts
In addition, the Dell FX100 remote access device
offers advanced client mobility. The FX100 provides a
high-performance communication platform that uses
PCoIP to access full-function virtual desktops running
on centralized data center systems. The FX100 works
with Dell VRD solutions featuring VMware View to
provide a high-quality remote user experience.
Additionally, as organizations migrate to Microsoft
Windows® 7, VMware View running on Dell hardware
helps to reduce costs and application compatibility
issues associated with Windows 7 migrations, extend
the life of existing desktop hardware to access virtual
Windows desktops, and avoid application conflicts
and costly application porting issues.
Using Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell
EqualLogic storage for VMware virtualization
Architected for virtual environments, Dell EqualLogic
storage arrays bring important benefits to a VMware
View–based virtual remote desktop solution.
EqualLogic storage arrays feature intelligent
automation for cost-effective storage management,
seamless scalability for nondisruptive growth, and
comprehensive integration capabilities—enabling
organizations to add services such as disaster
recovery without increasing costs.
Large-scale consolidation onto Dell PowerEdge
server platforms also enhances the overall
virtualization environment. Dell is focused on
delivering the requisite balance of processor,
memory, and I/O to optimize VMware virtualization
performance. To that end, PowerEdge servers
are designed with features that enable rapid
virtualization deployment, simplified integration,
and low maintenance. For example, organizations
can run a large number of desktops on PowerEdge
servers with the Intel® Xeon® processor 7500
series and balanced memory architectures. Also,
Dell and Intel are working together to optimize the
performance, scalability, and availability needed to
virtualize mission-critical applications onto VMware
virtualized platforms and to increase consolidation
ratios across the data center.
Virtualization on industry-standard servers
has changed the economics of the data center,
driving down total cost of ownership by enabling IT
organizations to consolidate multiple applications
per server, and to deploy and protect applications
in minutes. Together, EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI
“ VMware View enables highly simplified design, deployment, management, and support of Dell Flexible Computing solutions through a single point of contact.”
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Centralized desktop delivery: Dell and VMware reference architecture
storage arrays and PowerEdge servers enable an
exceptionally strategic consolidation environment
for desktop virtualization with VMware View.
For example, as the deployment of
consolidated storage grows, EqualLogic PS
Series arrays harness resources to evenly load
balance data I/O requests including storage
capacity, network bandwidth, and controller
cache. EqualLogic PS Series arrays have built-in
intelligence, with enterprise data services (for
example, snapshot and replication) included at
no additional cost. With EqualLogic PS Series
arrays, organizations can consolidate their
storage to optimize capacity and performance,
enhance provisioning, and centralize control.
Fully redundant, hot-serviceable components
are designed to provide comprehensive data
protection, while snapshots and auto-replication
enable online backups, instant restore, and
straightforward disaster recovery.
Also, in the Dell VRD reference configuration,
EqualLogic arrays are directly integrated with VMware
vStorage APIs to provide a highly efficient platform for
deploying VMware View. In particular, with the launch
of EqualLogic firmware version 5.0, Dell delivers
comprehensive integration with those APIs aimed
at providing advanced performance and scalability
of EqualLogic storage as part of VMware vSphere
virtualization deployments, including VMware View 4
for virtual desktops.
In fact, vStorage APIs for array integration in
EqualLogic firmware version 5.0 with Virtual Machine
File System (VMFS) file services have demonstrated
the following performance improvements compared
to EqualLogic firmware version 4.3 without close API
integration by helping to:1
• Reduce time to complete provisioning scenarios
by up to 72 percent
• Reduce time to complete storage migrations using
VMware vMotion™ software by up to 72 percent
• Reduce SAN network traffic by up to 95 percent
when using XCopy Offload
• Reduce CPU utilization by up to 75 percent when
using XCopy Offload
• Improve scalability in VMFS configurations—for
example, from 10–12 virtual machines per VMFS
volume to up to 64 virtual machines per VMFS volume
• Reduce locking overhead by 76 percent
• Reduce total time to boot multiple virtual machines
by 76 percent (key for VMware View and VMware
View Composer)—for example, to help improve
performance during a “boot storm” at the start of
the business day in a virtual desktop environment
VMware vSphere also includes VMware vCompute
infrastructure services to efficiently virtualize server
resources and vStorage infrastructure services to
efficiently virtualize storage resources. vStorage-
based functionality enables virtualized storage
and centralized management, and vStorage VMFS
provides file system services designed to optimize
the performance of virtual storage environments.
vStorage Thin Provisioning extends the benefits
of storage virtualization by allocating capacity as
needed—thereby helping clients avoid the overhead
and expense of excess storage. Moreover, EqualLogic
PS Series SANs use the vSphere virtualization platform
and cloud OS together with vStorage APIs to enable
exceptionally efficient, integrated data services.
Creating the Virtual Remote Desktop
reference architecture
Dell and VMware have designed the Dell Virtual
Remote Desktop reference architecture to provide
a comprehensive platform for VMware View 4
deployments. It can be tailored to specific
organizational sizing requirements while maintaining
a straightforward configuration designed to simplify
IT while advancing enterprise efficiency.
VMware vSphere 4 provides the foundation
for the virtualized infrastructure. The vSphere
platform abstracts processor, memory, storage, and
networking resources into components that serve
multiple virtual machines, enabling optimal hardware
utilization and flexibility. VMware View provides
unified access to virtual desktops and applications
running in a central data center and accessible from
a wide variety of devices. VMware View Composer
streamlines image management while helping to
1 Based on testing performed by Dell Labs in May 2010 comparing Dell EqualLogic firmware version 4.3 to Dell EqualLogic firmware version 5.0. Actual performance will vary based on configuration, usage, and workload variability.
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reduce storage needs through the use of VMware
linked clone technology (see Figure 1).
Core infrastructure components for the reference
architecture include Dell PowerEdge servers, Dell
EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI storage arrays, Dell
PowerConnect network switches, and key software
components.
Dell PowerEdge servers
The Dell PowerEdge R710 2U rack server is designed
to deliver high overall system performance and
excellent virtual machine consolidation ratios. It
utilizes Intel Core™ i7 quad-core processors at
2.7 GHz and supports a maximum of 144 GB
memory. The PowerEdge R710 server has four
onboard Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) controllers and up to
four PCI Express (PCIe) Gen2 expansion slots. Intel
processors help reduce total cost of ownership with
advanced virtualization capabilities, enhanced energy
efficiency, and innovative systems management.
Dell EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI SAN arrays
Dell EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI SAN arrays are
designed to simplify storage deployment by
offering high performance, excellent reliability,
intelligent automation, and seamless virtualization.
The foundation of the VRD storage solution is an
EqualLogic PS Series group, which consists of an
iSCSI SAN with one or more EqualLogic PS Series
SAN arrays (members) connected to an IP network
and managed as a single storage pool. Each array has
fully redundant hardware and multiple GbE or 10GbE
active network connections for maximum bandwidth.
The EqualLogic PS Series architecture simplifies
both scale-up and scale-out strategies, and is highly
elastic. As members are added to the group, additional
capacity is absorbed into the storage pool and
immediately shared. Subsequently, data is automatically
and transparently load balanced across the pool among
different storage types and RAID levels, for automated
tiering. EqualLogic PS Series SAN arrays are also able to
aggregate GbE or 10GbE for a unified fabric, helping to
reduce networking costs.
Dell PowerConnect network switches
The VRD reference architecture uses two Dell
PowerConnect 6248 switches to connect the
VMware View 4 servers to EqualLogic PS Series
SAN arrays. These switches offer 48 ports of
10/100/1000BASE-T wire-speed GbE with advanced
security, Layer 3 capabilities, quality of service (QoS),
and high-performance stacking features. The
PowerConnect 6248 series switches also support
up to four 10GbE uplinks for direct connectivity in
10GbE data centers.
Two PowerConnect 8024F switches are used to
connect the VMware View 4 servers to an additional
EqualLogic array. These high-density, 24-port 10GbE
switches are designed for converged Ethernet
environments supporting dense virtualization and
iSCSI storage. The PowerConnect 8024F switch
also provides comprehensive routing features in a
compact 1U form factor with data center–friendly
front-to-rear cooling.
Software components
VMware View 4 provides a tightly integrated
solution built specifically for delivering desktops as
Figure 1. VMware vSphere remote desktop virtualization delivery architecture
VMwarevCenter
Dell OptiPlex thin clients O�inedesktop
VMware vSphere
Centralized virtual desktops
VMware ViewManager
Management server:Dell PowerEdge
OS
VMware ViewComposer
Master image
Linked clones
Dell PowerEdge servers, Dell PowerConnect switches, and Dell EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI SAN arrays
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Centralized desktop delivery: Dell and VMware reference architecture
a managed service. VMware View 4 is designed to
create simplified, automated desktop workflows
that help reduce operational costs and increase
control for IT staff. VMware View 4 enables a flexible
desktop experience regardless of device, network,
or use case.
VMware vSphere 4 builds on the power of the
widely deployed VMware Infrastructure virtualization
platform to bring the enterprise-class features of data
center virtualization to the desktop environment.
vSphere 4 extends features such as VMware vMotion,
VMware High Availability (HA), VMware Distributed
Resource Scheduler (DRS), and VMware Fault
Tolerance (FT) technology to the desktop.
Dell EqualLogic SAN HQ provides centralized
access to detailed performance and event data,
reporting capabilities, and intelligent alerts from
the EqualLogic storage array groups. SAN HQ uses
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to
collect performance, alarm, and health status data
from dozens of array groups that could be spread
across multiple locations around the world.
Configuring the reference architecture
building block for testing
Dell and VMware established specifications for the
various architecture components, including load
simulation configuration, user workload profiles,
server configuration, networking configuration, and
storage configuration.
Load simulation configuration
The testing was designed to simulate the tasks that
an average call center worker or typical productivity
worker would perform during a workday. The entire test
configuration was set up per the VMware Reference
Architecture Workload Simulator (RAWC), a tool used to
simulate realistic user environments for test purposes.
Each virtual machine was configured with the following:
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service
Pack 2 (SP2)
• 1 GB RAM
• One 10 GB hard drive
• 1 network interface card (NIC) connected to the
applications network
• 1 virtual CPU (vCPU)
• VMware View 4 Agent
• Microsoft Office 2003, with Microsoft Outlook®
messaging software configured to use Microsoft
Exchange
• McAfee® VirusScan® Enterprise 8.5i for antivirus
scanning
• 7-Zip, an open-source Windows utility to create
and extract compressed .zip files
User workload profiles
Each virtual machine described previously was
equipped to run a workload that simulates typical
user behavior, using an application set commonly
found and used across a broad array of desktop
environments. The workload has a set of randomly
executed functions that perform operations on a
variety of applications. Several other factors can be
implemented to increase the load or adjust the user
behavior, such as the number of words per minute
that are typed and the delay between applications
being launched. The workload configuration used for
this validation included Microsoft Outlook; Microsoft
Office (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel®, and
Microsoft PowerPoint® applications); Adobe® Acrobat
reader; Microsoft Internet Explorer®; McAfee
VirusScan; and 7-Zip.
During the execution of the workload, multiple
applications were opened at the same time, and
windows were minimized and maximized as the
workload progressed, randomly switching between
each application. Individual application operations
that were randomly performed included:
• Microsoft Outlook: Open, minimize, maximize,
and close the application, and then send e-mail
messages.
• Microsoft Word: Open, minimize, close, and
write random words and numbers, and then save
modifications.
• Microsoft Excel: Open, minimize, close, and write
random numbers, insert and delete columns
and rows, copy and paste formulas, and save
modifications.
• Microsoft PowerPoint: Open, minimize, close, and
conduct a slide show presentation.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader: Open, minimize, close,
and browse pages in a PDF document.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer: Open, minimize,
close, and browse Web pages.
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• McAfee antivirus software: Perform real-time
scanning.
• 7-Zip: Open, close, and compress a large file.
Based on the user-thinking time and words per
minute employed for this validation, this workload
could be compared to that of a high-end task worker
or low-end knowledge worker.
Server configuration
The Dell PowerEdge R710 servers were configured
with dual Intel Core i7 quad-core processors at
2.7 GHz with Intel Hyper-Threading Technology
enabled, presenting 16 logical CPUs to vSphere. Each
server was configured with 48 GB of Double Data
Rate 3 (DDR3) 1,333 MHz RAM, and two internal
73 GB, 15,000 rpm Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) drives
(mirrored), which were used for vSphere only.
Additionally, each server had four built-in GbE
NICs plus an added Intel quad-port GbE card for
a total of eight GbE NICs. Four of the NICs were
dedicated to software iSCSI—one iSCSI initiator was
configured per NIC and all four iSCSI initiators were
configured to use round-robin load balancing to
each logical unit (LUN) on the array. Two NICs were
dedicated for internal networking and management
traffic using the vSphere port-based load-balancing
feature. The seventh NIC was dedicated to a separate,
externally accessible network for testing access, and
the eighth NIC was unused.
Each server had vSphere 4.0 Update 1 installed
with the latest patches, and the VMware ESX servers
were controlled by a separate server that managed
the testing. The management server was a
PowerEdge R805 server with 10 GbE NICs, 32 GB
of RAM, and dual quad-core AMD CPUs.
The management server was configured with
virtual machines for the following:
• VMware vCenter™ 4.0 Update 1 software
• VMware View 4.0.1 configured as the connection
broker
• Microsoft SQL Server® 2005 database software
for vCenter
• Two domain controllers, one running Microsoft
Windows Server® 2003 Release 2 (R2) and one
running Windows Server 2008 R2, each also
configured for domain name system (DNS)
• A network address translation (NAT) router to allow
the virtual machines to access the Internet
• A Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 server for
e-mails that were created and sent as part of the
test suite
One additional server was used for testing purposes
only, allowing remote access to the configuration and
running the SAN HQ tool to report on performance.
Networking configuration
The network comprised four Dell PowerConnect
6248 GbE Ethernet switches in full-duplex mode.
Two switches were used for iSCSI access by the
servers and the array; one switch was used for all the
application and testing traffic, and one was used for
public access to facilitate testing.
Eight GbE NICs were used to support ESX host
networking (see Figure 2). Four GbE NICs supported
the SAN and two GbE NICs supported application
and client traffic. These NICs were also shared for
primary VMware ESX Service Console connection
Figure 2. VMware ESX host networking configuration
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Centralized desktop delivery: Dell and VMware reference architecture
and VMware vMotion traffic. Additionally, one GbE
NIC was used for the secondary service console.
One GbE NIC was not used.
For client networking, one-to-one networking
was used for physical thin clients. Three physical thin
clients were tested: one Dell FX100 Zero Client and
two Dell OptiPlex FX160 thin clients. All other virtual
clients were connected over the two NICs that are
shared for application and client traffic.
Four NICs were used for iSCSI networking (see
Figure 3). All four NICs were connected to one vSwitch,
with each NIC assigned to a single iSCSI Port Group.
There was no teaming of NICs or iSCSI Ports on
vSwitch, and the multipathing policy used for each
volume was the round-robin method. The configuration
utilized four GbE ports on a switch for four active ports
on the Dell EqualLogic PS6000XV array and two
GbE ports on the EqualLogic PS4000E array. Similarly,
four GbE ports on another switch were used as
standby ports on the EqualLogic PS6000XV array and
two GbE ports were used as standby ports on the
EqualLogic PS4000E array. Switches were configured
according to EqualLogic best practices. Jumbo
frames were enabled, and the Spanning Tree Protocol
(STP) was disabled.
Storage configuration
Both EqualLogic PS4000E and EqualLogic
PS6000XV virtualized iSCSI SAN arrays were tested.
This report describes the configuration and results
of the EqualLogic PS4000E array.2
The test used an EqualLogic PS4000E array
with sixteen 1 TB Serial ATA (SATA) drives. Two
of the drives were hot spares, and the remaining
14 were configured in RAID-50, the default
configuration. Of the approximately 10.5 TB of
available space, three 1.7 TB LUNs were created for
the virtual machines and the rest of the space was
unused. Each LUN could have been smaller, but
space was left over for additional virtual machines,
overhead space, and snapshots.
Test goal and methodology
PCoIP remote display technology is an important
element of the View 4 reference architecture,
because it helps deliver a high-quality desktop
experience regardless of user location. As part
of the reference architecture validation, Dell and
VMware engineers verified whether PCoIP required
significantly increased CPU time, or significantly
slowed other tasks compared with the Remote
Desktop Protocol (RDP) that had been used before
the introduction of PCoIP in VMware View 4.
To make this determination, the engineers
performed two sets of tests. The first set utilized
130 virtual machines and two servers with RDP,
and the second set utilized 130 virtual machines
and two servers with the PCoIP protocol. The test
methodology consisted of sending and receiving
e-mail in Microsoft Outlook; creating and using
documents in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel,
and Microsoft PowerPoint; opening and browsing
documents using Acrobat Reader; browsing
the Web using Microsoft Internet Explorer;
compressing several sample files using 7-Zip;
and performing a full virus scan of the computer
Figure 3. iSCSI networking configuration
2 For more information and additional details about these tests, visit www.equallogic.com/support.
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using McAfee VirusScan software. This battery
of tests was repeated three times to help ensure
consistent results.
Measurement and analysis tools
Test engineers employed a variety of measurement
and analysis tools to evaluate server, virtual machine,
SAN, and desktop performance, using VMware
vCenter Server to monitor virtual machine and server
performance. They utilized the EqualLogic SAN
HQ performance monitoring and reporting tool to
measure the performance of EqualLogic storage
arrays. The Liquidware Labs Stratusphere™ desktop
assessment tool was used to monitor desktop
application response times.
Summarizing results of the performance tests
Although two sets of tests were run, this document
focuses primarily on the test results for the newer
PCoIP technology, which are graphically represented
in Figures 4–11. For a side-by-side comparison of the
PCoIP results and the RDP results, see Tables 1–3 in
the section, “Delivering a high-quality user experience
with PCoIP.”
VMware vCenter performance statistics
VMware vCenter performance data was collected
in vSphere and stored in a Microsoft SQL Server
database. Data collected included CPU utilization,
memory utilization, ballooning and swapping,
network total bandwidth, and disk response times.
The vCenter performance data (see Figures 4–8)
shows that the resource utilization increased as the
desktop user sessions were started and then settled
to a steady state after all 130 virtual machines were
up and running. During the test run, all components—
servers, switches, storage—handled the peak and
steady-state workloads easily and proved to be a
balanced system overall.
CPU utilization values show the average usage
over the sampling period as well as the highest,
brief spikes (see Figure 4). Average CPU utilization
increased from 35 percent to 55 percent as the
desktop user sessions were started, and then settled
around 40 percent in steady state. There was a brief
spike in the system workload after the tests ran for
260 minutes, as evidenced in all performance charts
(see Figures 4–10). Most likely, simultaneous virus
scans across the user sessions toward the end of the
test run caused this increase.
The CPU performance data indicates that there
was sufficient unused processor capacity that could
have been used to increase the total number of
virtual desktops running in the system. However,
130 virtual machines in this configuration
(approximately 8 virtual machines per core) were
determined to be optimal given the memory
utilization (see Figure 5). This number also leaves
enough processor headroom for occasional
spikes in workload.
Memory utilization values refer to the overall
utilization of RAM. As Figure 5 shows, the memory
utilization increased from 45 percent to 78 percent
as the desktop sessions were started. Subsequently,
transparent memory sharing among virtual
machines decreased the memory utilization to
50 percent in the steady state until the workload
spike happened at the 260-minute mark. As
Figure 4. CPU utilization with PCoIP
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Per
cen
t
Relative time (minutes)
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300
Average CPU usage
11
Centralized desktop delivery: Dell and VMware reference architecture
utilization crossed 80 percent, vSphere took
measures, including ballooning and swapping, to
conserve physical RAM.
Ballooning and swapping is a memory
conservation technique that asks the virtual
machine to swap some of its used memory to
its local swap file (in the case of Windows, for
example, pagefile.sys) and gives the free memory
back to the general pool of available memory. This
method is highly efficient and has minimal impact
on performance, since the guest OS determines
what to swap out. If RAM is still scarce, the system
can resort to swapping, where vSphere swaps out
some memory to an individual virtual machine
swap file. Swapping generally degrades virtual
machine performance and should be avoided
when possible (see Figure 6).
Network bandwidth performance includes all
network traffic—iSCSI, virtual machine traffic to the
Internet, and domain controllers, as well as general
vSphere management traffic. In this proof-of-concept
test case, the total traffic (39 MB/sec receive rate
and 45 MB/sec transmit rate at the peak) was well
below the capacity (approximately 440 MB/sec) of
the network to handle the load and did not create a
bottleneck (see Figure 7).
Disk response time (see Figure 8), also known as
disk latency, measures the time needed to complete
Figure 6. Ballooning and swapping with PCoIP
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Relative time (minutes)
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300
Meg
abyt
es
Average swap used
Average memory balloon
Figure 5. Memory utilization with PCoIP
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Relative time (minutes)
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300
Per
cen
tAverage memory usage
12
a disk read or write request by the ESX server host.
Application response time, as observed by the
desktop user, is directly linked to the disk latency
seen by the host, and therefore disk latency is a
key indicator of the quality of the user experience.
Typically, a disk latency of 15 ms or less corresponds
to a very good user experience. As Figure 8 shows,
the disk latencies were below that threshold
throughout the test run, including the sudden
workload spike toward the end of the test.
Network I/O statistics
The SAN HQ performance-monitoring tool included
with EqualLogic storage arrays presents data
volume and network I/O statistics from the array
perspective. Most of these I/O statistics apply to the
data volumes used in testing. Latency, total I/Os per
second (IOPS), and average I/O size characterize
the key performance indicators—response time and
throughput—of the array under a given workload.
These three important I/O statistics are shown in
Figure 9. The test data confirms that the storage
array managed the workload, including the spikes,
without any issues.
Figure 10 shows the amount of network traffic
relative to iSCSI. This traffic, when subtracted from
the total network I/O reported from vSphere, can
be used to determine the total non-iSCSI traffic. As
Figure 7. Network bandwidth with PCoIP
Figure 8. Disk response time with PCoIP
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Relative time (minutes)
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300
MB
/sec
Average network receive rate
Average network transmit rate
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Relative time (minutes)
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300
Mil
lise
con
ds
Average disk read latency
Average disk write latency
13
Centralized desktop delivery: Dell and VMware reference architecture
Figure 9. LUNs with PCoIP
30
20
10
0
Time (hours:minutes)
Ave
rag
e la
ten
cy(m
illi
seco
nd
s)
40
20
0
Ave
rag
e I/
O s
ize
(KB
)
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
Ave
rag
e IO
PS
Estimated IOPS workload Estimated maximum IOPS Estimated IOPS workload Read Write
90
60
30
0
Est
imat
ed I
OP
S(w
ork
load
per
cen
t)
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
Est
imat
edm
axim
um
IO
PS
12:15 12:30 12:45 13:00 13:15 13:30 13:45 15:00 15:15 15:30 15:45 16:00 16:15 16:30 16:45 17:00 17:15 17:30 17:45 18:0014:00 14:15 14:30 14:45
shown in Figures 7 and 10, network I/O did not create
a bottleneck in this test case.
Application response times
Response times, including average operation times,
were recorded in various application response tests
(see Figure 11). The response times are the actual
measure of how responsive an application is to the
virtual desktop user. As shown in Figure 11,
all but one application operation time was less
than half a second. For the “Excel Save Doc 1”
operation that took 1.8 seconds on average, most
likely it was a huge spreadsheet that the simulator
was changing heavily before saving (note that
the other “Excel Save” operation took less than
0.2 seconds). Overall, the virtual desktop sessions
14
were very responsive to the users and helped
provide an excellent user experience.
Delivering a high-quality user experience
with PCoIP
The results summarized in Tables 1–3 indicate
a high-quality user experience as measured in
application response times for the particular user
workload profile tested in this study. The user
experience from a display perspective is enhanced
with PCoIP on a high-speed network. PCoIP
required only a little more CPU time than RDP
and slowed other tasks only slightly. These results
verify that the reference architecture explored in
this test case can serve as a starting point for large
enterprises looking to scale their VMware View 4
deployments in a predictable, standardized manner.
The values in Table 3 are in megabytes per
second, not megabits per second. The goal was
calculated as 70 percent utilization maximum on
each of the seven active NICs, assuming 1 Gbps
full duplex, converted into megabytes per second
(where 1 MB/s = 10 Mbps).
Sizing and scaling considerations
As multiple building blocks are deployed into the
VMware View 4 environment, the following design
considerations should be kept in mind:
• A balanced building-block configuration as
described in this document can be selected—
and all components in the entire building
block can be scaled up or down—based on an
organization’s specific workload requirements.
In the proof-of-concept building-block
configuration that was tested and verified in this
study, Dell EqualLogic storage performance scaled
linearly with capacity. These results indicate that
storage performance will increase automatically
and proportionately as storage capacity is added.
• The latest VMware configuration maximums
should be checked, particularly in large VMware
View deployments.
• VMware ESX hosts running the virtual desktop
environment can form their own cluster, or they
can be part of an existing cluster containing other
server workloads.
Figure 10. Network I/O with PCoIP
100
80
60
40
20
0
Time (hours:minutes)
MB
/sec
Sent Received
12:15 12:30 12:45 13:00 13:15 13:30 13:45 15:00 15:15 15:30 15:45 16:00 16:15 16:30 16:45 17:00 17:15 17:30 17:45 18:0014:00 14:15 14:30 14:45
Excel Close
Excel Save Doc 2
Word Close Doc 1
Word Save Doc 1
PowerPoint Close
Word Save Doc 2
Word Close Doc 2
Internet Explorer Close
Outlook Close
Excel Save Doc 1
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000
42.0
165.7
258.4
278.8
285.7
303.8
306.4
437.1
480.9
1846.9
Average application operation times (PCoIP test)(Smaller is better)
Milliseconds
Figure 11. Average application operation times with PCoIP
15
Centralized desktop delivery: Dell and VMware reference architecture
• Virtual desktops can be managed by their own
dedicated VMware vCenter instance.
• As deployments increase in size, return on
investment can be enhanced by adding Dell
PowerEdge servers with increased processor
and memory capabilities and increased storage
capacity.
• VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager (SRM) has
not been evaluated in this reference architecture.
However, VMware SRM works with EqualLogic PS
Series SANs to automate the recovery process and
is designed to reduce the complexity of managing
and testing recovery plans, particularly in large
VMware View 4 deployments.
Easing the transition to centralized
desktop delivery
Organizations must support a wide variety of users—
local, mobile, and remote—who require access to
sensitive information assets on a range of enterprise
and personal equipment including desktops, laptops,
and unmanaged mobile devices. Increasingly mobile
usage models make it difficult to support end users in
a consistent and secure manner.
VMware View 4 addresses desktop management
challenges by centralizing control and delivery
of computing assets and simplifying desktop
management. The Dell VRD solution—which
encompasses Dell PowerEdge servers, Dell
Table 3. RDP versus PCoIP test summary: network bandwidth
Test Servers Users CPU utilization Disk response time
RDP 2 130 Goal: < 75% Average: 39%
Maximum: 56%
Goal: < 20 ms Average: 6 ms
Maximum: 14 ms
PCoIP 2 130 Goal: < 75% Average: 43%
Maximum: 59%
Goal: < 20 ms Average: 4 ms
Maximum: 15 ms
Test Users
Memory
Utilization Ballooning Swapping
RDP 130 Goal: < 90% Average: 51%
Maximum: 65%
Goal: < 5 GB Average: 0 MB
Maximum: 0 MB
Goal: < 1 GB Average: 84 MB
Maximum: 208 MB
PCoIP 130 Goal: < 90% Average: 62%
Maximum: 83%
Goal: < 5 GB Average: 432 MB
Maximum: 681 MB
Goal: < 1 GB Average: 37 MB
Maximum: 54 MB
Test Servers Users
Network bandwidth
Received Sent
RDP 2 130 Goal: < 480 MB/sec Average: 17 MB/sec
Maximum: 29.8 MB/sec
Goal: < 480 MB/sec Average: 3.3 MB/sec
Maximum: 18.4 MB/sec
PCoIP 2 130 Goal: < 480 MB/sec Average: 19 MB/sec
Maximum: 33 MB/sec
Goal: < 480 MB/sec Average: 8 MB/sec
Maximum: 42 MB/sec
Table 1. RDP versus PCoIP test summary: CPU utilization and disk response time
Table 2. RDP versus PCoIP test summary: memory utilization and ballooning and swapping
16
EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI SAN arrays, Dell
PowerConnect network switches, and VMware
View 4 client virtualization software—provides a highly
efficient and scalable platform designed to simplify
the transition to centralized desktop management
and delivery. Dell VRD combines the benefits of
VMware virtualization, EqualLogic PS Series storage
virtualization, and virtualization-optimized PowerEdge
servers to boost enterprise efficiency and help reduce
total cost of ownership for the desktop infrastructure
through tight integration and automation.
The Dell VRD reference architecture discussed
in this test study enables administrators to rapidly
provision virtual desktops and provide end users with
personalized desktop environments while helping
eliminate the need for retraining and application
sharing. It also empowers organizations to respond
quickly and flexibly to changing business needs.
Additionally, the Dell Services team is ready to help
assess, design, implement, and maintain desktop
virtualization in specific organizational environments
while offering a single point of contact for ongoing
hardware and software support.
Copyright © 2010 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at www.vmware.com/go/patents. VMware, the VMware logo, VMware View, vCenter, vMotion, and vSphere are trademarks or registered trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Dell, the Dell logo, EqualLogic, OptiPlex, PowerConnect, PowerEdge, and ProManage are trademarks or registered trademarks of Dell Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. This document is for informational purposes only. Dell and VMware make no warranties, express or implied, in this document.
August 2010
References
Dell Services Managed Virtual Client:www.dell.com/fcs
Dell Virtual Remote Desktop:www.equallogic.com/solutions/default
.aspx?id=9251
VMware View Reference Architecture:www.vmware.com/resources/
techresources/1084
VMware View 4:www.vmware.com/products/view
VMware vSphere:www.vmware.com/products/vsphere
Workload Considerations for Virtual Desktop Reference Architectures:www.vmware.com/files/pdf/VMware-WP
-WorkloadConsiderations-WP-EN.pdf
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